Ignored till now, men fight for a day of their own
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Bangalore: Men have finally gotten sick of all the attention paid to women’s rights in the country. Frustrated that society has `ignored’ their rights, they’re going to take a day off, sit back and relax. Like Women’s Day and Mother’s Day, they want one day a year set aside to celebrate manhood. They also seek a ministry to safeguard their welfare and champion their rights.
Members of the Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) will observed International Men’s Day on November 19 — the first time that Indian men will join in the celebrations since the day was first observed in 1999. They plan to hold seminars and protests across the country against `denial of basic human rights of men in India’ across the country.
SIFF says men created the internet, climbed Mt Everest, pioneered space travel, and discovered gravity and the Theory of Relativity —enough reason for a celebration. The day will remind men about their responsibilities towards family and society, say SIFF members.
They will also submit a memorandum questioning the non-existence of a ministry for men to the governor, apart from urging the Centre to separate the child welfare department from that of the women’s ministry.
Men’s rights organisations justify their demand for a dedicated ministry by quoting a Crime Bureau of India finding: of 1,13,000 suicide cases in India every year, 72,000 are men. SIFF members claim they have faced false dowry cases, extortion, threats and `legal terrorism’. The internet is filled with blogs and forwards on instances when men have been at the receiving end.
Members add that most Indian men are reluctant to get married as they fear being slapped with false dowry cases. “This indirectly amounts to denial of basic rights of men, as they have no hope of any protection from abuse under existing Indian laws. Thousands of men are forcibly separated from their children because of differences with their wives,” says Manuel, a member of SIFF. SIFF, founded in Bangalore in 1998,, has over 6,000 members, mostly software professionals.
toiblr.reporter@ timesgroup. com
